The Long Dream by Serena Summers

Chapter One
    "Would you like to dance?" were the first words he ever said to me, as we stood on the dance floor on that memorable Christmas Eve. As I looked at him, I was immediately struck by his lovely dark brown eyes which were lustrous and shining, even in the darkness of the nightclub.
    It was a slow dance and as he held me, I could feel his strong muscular body next to mine. He was so tall, well over six feet and even in my heels, my head only just reached his shoulder. "I'd love to," I replied. Wow, this one looks promising!
    We ended up chatting all night about our lives, our jobs and just about everything else. It turned out that he still lived at home, had just qualified as an accountant and worked in a local office near to the village where he lived. We both went to the gym and he played football. A country boy! It seemed as though we had a lot in common and the conversation flowed easily all evening.
    "The first thing I noticed about you was your lovely long blond hair," Paul said.
    I thought the name suited him perfectly. "I just adore your big brown eyes," I added.
    "Can I give you a lift home?" he offered.
    "That would be great, as I'm staying with my parents this weekend," I said gratefully.
    As he dropped me off, we exchanged phone numbers, and little did I know that this was the start of the next nineteen years of our lives.
    After a few days, I returned to London and to my delight, there was a message on the answer phone from him. I was excited and happy as I rang him back and we arranged our first date. I was smitten with Paul and all I could think of now was him.
    We carried on going out together and it was great fun driving around London in his BMW, visiting pubs and restaurants and going dancing again, which we both loved, ending up at my place for passionate nights together. He would get up early in order to drive back down to his office. If I hadn't visited my parents that weekend and gone out to the nightclub I would never have met him. I was sure I was falling for him and thought he must feel the same as we were spending as much time as possible together.
    ***
    Eleven months later, everything suddenly changed overnight.
    "Come and see my village where I grew up," Paul said on the phone.
    Excitedly, I got ready for what was to become the most momentous night for the two of us. As we drove down, I was floating on a wave of excitement and anticipation. He showed me his primary school, his office, his football club and his home and then after a wonderful afternoon, we drove to a quaint country pub where he'd booked a table.
    "Will you marry me?" he asked.
    Like a bolt from the blue, I was stunned for a moment before I gathered my thoughts. "Yes, of course, I'd love to."
    The wine had gone to my head and I thought I would burst with happiness. Everyone was looking at us and lifted their glasses as they realised what was happening. We spent the most romantic night together yet, and the next day was even better when he took me to a jewellers and I chose the most beautiful sapphire and diamond engagement ring! It was just the most heavenly weekend which I will never forget.
    Everything went very quickly after our engagement. We started looking for a house in a lovely village near to Paul's parents. I fell in love with it, especially the duck pond in the center of the village, where lived a family of ducks that had the right of way across the road, so the cars had to stop for them.
    There were several attractive pubs which served really good food, and we certainly visited them many times on our house hunting trips. There was also a general store, a post office, a newsagent and an off-licence, which would be very useful. The village hall was very pretty and overlooked the cricket green, and there seemed to be plenty of things going on there.
    We found a house we particularly liked that had three bedrooms, two if you used one as a dining room. It was semi-detached and built in a mock Tudor style with a huge